FareShare in Morningside Get on With Queensland Organics Strategy and Action Plan

The FareShare facility in Morningside is making strides and seizing the opportunity to divert food wastes away from the landfill, which is an important objective of the newly-launched Queensland Organics Strategy and Action Plan.



Following extensive consultations in the past year, the Queensland Government has unveiled the 10-year plan to encourage Queenslanders to improve their food consumption habits and turn discarded organic material into a “valuable and useful commodity.” 

The launch took place at the FareShare site along 46 Steel Place in Morningside in February 2022.

“The Strategy and Action Plan is the result of an extensive consultation process over the past year which included a survey, written submissions, workshops and information sessions,” Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said.

“We waste too much food, leaving it to be dumped in landfill, while others go hungry.

“This is not only having an increasing cost on our household budgets – estimated at $2,200 a year – but on our environment as unwanted food and garden waste dumped in landfill produces damaging methane gas.

“By 2030, we want to halve the amount of food waste generated, divert 80 per cent of the organic material going to landfill, and achieve a 70 per cent recycling rate for organics.”

Ms Scanlon has also cited FareShare’s success in reducing waste as it turns food supply excesses into free, nutritious meals for those in need. 

With the help of a $160,000 food rescue grant, FareShare has secured a storage and rescue capacity by constructing a second cool room, completing the purchase of a forklift, and hiring extra workers. 

Meanwhile, measures under the Queensland Organics Strategy and Action Plan will include the following: 

  • 2.1 billion waste package over the next ten years which includes the $1.1 billion Recycling and Jobs Fund to support increased household recycling, help build new resource recovery infrastructure and create more jobs in more industries.
  • Nearly $1 million in Food Rescue grants for Fareshare, Foodbank, SecondBite, IFYS Urban Angels Community Kitchen, Ozharvest and The Rock Family and Community Support to divert surplus food away from landfill and help Queenslanders experiencing food insecurity.
  • $770,000 to support Food Organics, Garden Organics (FOGO) Kerbside Collection Trials in Townsville, Rockhampton, and Lockyer Valley.
  • Nearly $500,000 Organics Waste Smart Schools Program to help state schools improve the management of food waste in the schoolyard.
  • $11 million in grants committed through the Food Waste for Healthy Soils Program to support new and improved organic waste recycling infrastructure.


Morningside-Based Charity Kitchen Receives $100,000 Donation From State Government

Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC) extends its partnership with Morningside-based charity kitchen via a $100,000 donation.

“Every day of the year, vulnerable Queenslanders benefit from the free, nutritious meals cooked by FareShare and distributed by Foodbank,” Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad said during her announcement.

FareShare started its operations in Queensland just over a year ago, Ms Trad said, and it has already turned half a million tonnes of surplus food supplied by Foodbank into more than one million nutritious meals.

“QTC’s relationship with FareShare started with a corporate volunteering day earlier this year.

“QTC has also helped FareShare tackle some of their logistical challenges, including providing advice on sustainable funding streams to meet its operational expenditure needs, ensuring a sustainable supply of key ingredients and developing a ‘no-cost’ framework to transport meals to Thursday Island’s pre-natal centre.

The $100,000 donation will allow FareShare to employ another full-time chef, “enabling them to provide an additional 250,000 meals for vulnerable Queenslanders every year.”

Whether it’s those affected by the recent fires, flood victims earlier this year in Townsville, or vulnerable Queenslanders facing a Christmas alone, FareShare exists on the generosity, time and ingenuity of so many supporters,” Minister for Child Safety and Member for Bulimba Di Farmer said.

Photo Credit: FareShare / Facebook

One in five Queenslanders have experienced food insecurity in the last year, Ms Farmer said referring to the Foodbank Hunger Report 2019 report; food waste cost the Australian economy an estimated $20 billion every year.. 

She said that in Morningside, 430 volunteers come together to create meals from donated food from major food retailers, that would otherwise have ended up in landfills. 

FareShare opened its state-of-the-art Brisbane facility in October 2018 as part of its collaboration with Foodbank. In 2020 Fareshare aims to double its output in Brisbane to two million meals. 

“FareShare is one of the most effective charitable organisations I’ve encountered that makes a significant, tangible outcome for vulnerable people,” said Queensland Treasury Corporation CEO Philip Noble said.

“It costs FareShare just 50 cents to cook a nutritious meal for someone in need in Queensland and I would encourage individuals and local businesses to consider supporting them, either by donating or volunteering their time.”

“QTC came on board at a critical time when FareShare had just arrived in Brisbane and was trying to establish a community here,” said Marcus Godinho, FareShare CEO.

“QTC’s collaborative approach to solving the problems we face has been highly valuable and resulted in real solutions put on the table for our business challenges.”



Australia’s Largest Charity Kitchen Opening in Morningside

Teaming up with Foodbank Queensland, the largest food relief organisation in Queensland, FareShare is getting ready to open its doors in Morningside.

Following their acquisition of the former biotech laboratory at 46 Steel Place in Morningside, Australia’s largest charity kitchen is only a few weeks away from cooking at its first location in Brisbane.

The $4.5 million custom-built, production kitchen is reportedly capable of carrying out FareShare’s goal of cooking five million meals a year by 2023.

Foodbank Queensland will work with FareShare in reducing food waste and providing healthy cooked meals for Queenslanders experiencing food insecurity. Together, the teams aim to cook 1.25 million meals in the first 12 months, gradually scaling up to reach their target goal.


Photo credit: FareShare/Facebook

FareShare is now calling for Brisbane volunteers who will be willing to lend a helping hand in providing free and nutritious meals to those in need. Their new kitchen needs 300 volunteers to help in assisting their in-house chefs in preparing, cooking, and packing up meals.

The first shift at the kitchen will start in September 2018 prior to their official opening in October. Take note that volunteers must be at least 18 years old, unless part of a secondary school group.

Register to be a volunteer.

For more information and updates, visit FareShare’s website or Facebook page.

Fighting Hunger Gets Bigger in QLD With FoodBank Morningside and FareShare Partnership

There are 400,000 Queenslanders each year who experience food insecurity, half of them are children, according to Foodbank. Food relief charities in Queensland are turning away 134 people a month on average and 72 of whom are children, Foodbank says in its 2017 hunger report.

This situation, however, is about to change step by step.

In September 2017, Foodbank Morningside, Australia’s biggest food relief organisation, and FareShare, the country’s largest charity kitchen from Melbourne, signed an agreement to reduce food waste and fight hunger in Queensland.

In January 2018, FareShare has acquired a property at 46 Steel Place in Morningside, where Foodbank Morningside plans to build a kitchen for cooking healthy delicious meals to be given to Queenslanders in need.

The kitchen is expected to be operational within 2018.

Foodbank is distributing more than 35 million kilograms of food and groceries yearly or 172,000 meals a day across Australia. It provides 63 million meals a year to more than 2,600 charities and 1,750 schools in the country.

FareShare, meanwhile, is already cooking 5,000 free meals a day being distributed to soup vans, homeless shelters, women refuges, and community centres across the country.

With the new Morningside kitchen, and the partnership between Foodbank Morningside and FareShare, an additional five million meals a year will be cooked and be distributed for free.

FareShare Queensland general manager Kellie Watson said the Morningside facility was chosen because it is conveniently located near the Brisbane CBD. This ideal location encourages participation from businesses and is more convenient for commuting volunteers.

FareShare will be accepting volunteers for the kitchen in Morningside. Interested individuals can contact them as early as now to be updated on progress.

FareShare also accepts corporate volunteering where employees of companies can do volunteering as group.